I finally started my pond

[EddieWalker]

You have the same dream that I have. Buying an excavator. I've been looking at 12 tonne machines in the area, but don't want to spend the money. It's starting to become an obsession with me, and I have an entire section of my favorites that are set for heavy equipment for sale in the area.

Why Bobcat? I see quite a few of them working, but don't know anything about them.

Eddie

 

[bindian]

You have the same dream that I have. Buying an excavator. I've been looking at 12 tonne machines in the area, but don't want to spend the money. It's starting to become an obsession with me, and I have an entire section of my favorites that are set for heavy equipment for sale in the area.

Why Bobcat? I see quite a few of them working, but don't know anything about them.

Eddie

It is more than a dream, it is an itch. I keep thinking of the side business thing. The Big RED Beast is just fine for me, but a pond business really could use a large mini track loader (in leau of a larger used dozer) AND an excavator. Bobcat of Houston just opened a sales and service outlet right down the road, closer than my Mahindra dealer. Travis, who sold me my Stihl saw, Hustler ZT mower, and the Big RED Beast is now renting Bobcats and still sales everything but Mahindras. I have looked at Gehl, but those are iffy. The support for Bobcat is right here. Other brands, I would have to deal with a rental outlet that isn't there to sale me mini excavator parts.
I liked the feel of the 430 (but want something bigger), especially with the boom swing on them now. The fact of being able to dig and pivot the house 360 degrees to dump is a big plusl. If you have had a backhoe in a tight corner, you know what I mean. You can dig or dump in a corner, but not both! I am really wanting a mid size excavator that will out dig and reach a mini, but still small enough to not need more than a 10 ton trailer. I am thinking rubber tracks over steel also. The new Bobcat E80 at 9 tons might be a little too big. Also, Bobcat has a ton of proven attachments and a training program. Which might be a big plus instead of learning on the job and making costly mistakes. I made a ton of mistakes on this pond and still do. Just last weekend I kinda dug myself into a corner trying to clean out my gray water drain line and not make a big mess!
Also, next year, I might get to go to day shift with Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. That will be sweeter than working nights to find more work for the Big RED and White Beasts.
hugs, Brandi

 

[philbuilt]

I want a mini as well, It's haunting!! Just can't justify. I keep wishing
that the sign shop would need one more often then the purchase would justify its self.I get one with the cab thinking that it would be outdoors most of the time. I have used Cat, JD, and Bob cat and I like the JD best.
Phil

 

[EddieWalker]

There's a Cat 312 with mechanical thumb and 4,751 hours for $22,000 at the same dealer that I bought my backhoe from. I'm very tempted to take a drive out there, but I'm afraid that if I do, I might do something that I'm trying not to do!!!

TNT Equipment - Your resource for farm and construction. John Deere, Kubota, Ford, Caterpillar, International, Case, Hyundai, New Holland, and more.

Eddie

 

[HeavyHitch]

I have a JD 27C with a thumb that I bought for our plumbing business, but I really want to use it to make a pond on our deer hunting land. What's the best way to "seal" the bottom of the pond? I'm looking at putting one in at on top of hill so I'm not sure how to go about holding the water in that high above the natural water table.

 

[ScottAR]

Eddie, The bigger they are the cheaper they get... and the more expensive when
they tear up.

The 312 would be a good size for your truck. You could dig and load the truck in one operation. Make clean burn piles too.

I'm not helping am I...

 

[bindian]

I want a mini as well, It's haunting!! Just can't justify. I keep wishing
that the sign shop would need one more often then the purchase would justify its self.I get one with the cab thinking that it would be outdoors most of the time. I have used Cat, JD, and Bob cat and I like the JD best.
Phil

Phil,
What do you like about the JD over the Bobcat?
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

There's a Cat 312 with mechanical thumb and 4,751 hours for $22,000 at the same dealer that I bought my backhoe from. I'm very tempted to take a drive out there, but I'm afraid that if I do, I might do something that I'm trying not to do!!!

TNT Equipment - Your resource for farm and construction. John Deere, Kubota, Ford, Caterpillar, International, Case, Hyundai, New Holland, and more.

Eddie

Eddie,
I see that some of those Cats with certain serial number were built in Japan and France. Where is this one built? Take Stef with you, then she can beat you over the head if you do something goofy.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

There's a Cat 312 with mechanical thumb and 4,751 hours for $22,000 at the same dealer that I bought my backhoe from. I'm very tempted to take a drive out there, but I'm afraid that if I do, I might do something that I'm trying not to do!!!

TNT Equipment - Your resource for farm and construction. John Deere, Kubota, Ford, Caterpillar, International, Case, Hyundai, New Holland, and more.

Eddie

Eddie,
You know that Cat weighs 28,340 pounds. Do you have a trailer for that weight? Is your dump truck equipped to pull that much weight?
hugs, Brandi

 

[EddieWalker]

If I buy an excavator, it will be delivered here and stay here, so transportation wont be an issue. I'm not interested in getting into the dirt business, so it would be used to load my dump truck and take out trees. Right now, it's been too muddy to run the backhoe. I've been unable to get anything done for over two weeks now, and if we have a wet winter, I might have to write off the rest of the year to the weather. With a tracked excavator, I should be able to take the trees down and then when it dries out enough to drive the backhoe, I can move them to one of my burn piles then. While a bigger machine would probably be better, they are more money to buy, more to maintain, more to fix and harder to sell. I think the 12 to 16 tonne machines have the best resale because you don't need permits to move them, you can haul them with a ten wheel dump truck and they are big enough to get most jobs done.

As for Steph talking me out of it, I'm afraid that she's very supportive and has already been encouraging me to buy it, or one like it. My only saving grace right now is that I don't have that much cash, and I'd have to finance it to do it this year. I really don't want to to do that, so it's a question of saving more money, taking on the debt or working with what I have when the weather allows it.

Did you look through the other listings on that website? I saw quite a few Bobcat excavators listed, but don't know if the prices were good for the hours and size of the machines.

Eddie